In 1874, John Devoy received a letter from James Wilson. “Remember this is a voice from the tomb.” According to the Smithsonian, Devoy was a “former senior leader of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, known as the Fenian.”

"As a solider I fought of country, as a rebel I fought for cause, as a man I fought for freedom. My name is James Wilson and I fight to the end. I am not ashamed to speak the truth, I was tried for treason. Banished to Australia, yet I challenge my faith and brought six of my brothers to freedom. Think that we have been nine years in this living tomb since our first arrest and that it is impossible for mind or body to withstand the continual strain that is upon them. One or the other must give way"